I'm a huge fan of Jane Corry so I was excited to be given an ARC of her new book.

I found this a little difficult to get into at first. A LOT happened in a very short space of time and I wasn't sure I would be able to enjoy it, however it soon settled into a rhythm of the past and present stories of both Belinda, an ex-con who is now working as a carer in a residential home, and Mabel, one of the residents there.

At times the prison scenes were brutal, and whilst the story of Aunt Clarissa and the Coronel was clear from an early stage, it was not necessarily from the view point of the young Mabel as she came to terms with losing her mother and sister, and being relocated to the Devon coastline.

It was as ever a page turner and I really enjoyed the book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first Corry book, and I don't think it was the one to start with.
Other reviews mention its not her best work.
I personally didn't enjoy the writing. At times I found it overly simple, and at others a little disjointed.
Not the book for me unfortunately.

This novel by Jane Corey is set in Devon, somewhere the author clearly knows well, as the previous book I read of hers, Coming to Find You, was also set in that area. Like her previous book, the plot of The Stranger in Room Six also jumps between the past, specifically the Second World War, and the present. The main protagonist is also female, in this case Belinda Wall, who at the start of the book does something on the spur of the moment which changes her life forever.
Later on, she befriends an elderly woman, Mabel, and we hear her life story.
The plot is mainly about how these two characters have secrets which lead to some dramatic outcomes in the course of the book. The two women also become close friends and share some of their secrets. But not all!
I liked the depiction of life in England in wartime and also the description of prison life.
Belinda is faced with some difficult decisions and this makes her an interesting character.
The book succeeded in keeping my interest right to the end to see how some of the loose ends might get tied up.
There are a large number of other characters and because of this some characters felt a little underdeveloped. Some incidents also seemed to be a bit unlikely.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Penguin for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Jane Corry, but this isn't my favourite of hers. It feels completely different to her other books, and I think it may be personal preference. I didn't enjoy the war time narrative, but the present timeline was really engaging. And 15 years ago was also really good.
Overall I enjoyed the book, just was expecting something different from Jane Corry.

This book is a heartfelt tale of friendship and forgiveness that completely pulled me in. It follows Belinda Wall, a buttoned-up housewife whose dull life is shattered when her husband’s double life is exposed, leading to his murder—and her imprisonment. Fast-forward to the present, and Belinda, now a carer at Sunnyside Home for the Young at Heart, crosses paths with Mabel Marchmount, a fiery resident with her own wartime secrets.

Through shared stories—Belinda’s prison memories and Mabel’s heartbreaking past during the Blitz—their unlikely friendship grows. Along the way, we learn about Mabel’s strict Aunt Clarissa, who hides her own secrets, and how the two women help each other heal and forgive.

The book has multiple timelines (WW2, 15 years ago, and the present), but they’re woven together in an intriguing way. While some parts felt a bit far-fetched, I was completely hooked on both Belinda’s and Mabel’s stories. Their connection felt dramatic at times, but their individual journeys were so compelling it hardly mattered.

The characters were beautifully written—Mabel is a feisty delight, Clarissa is intimidating but fascinating, and Belinda is strong and complex. This book had me turning pages late into the night! If you love stories about resilience and connection, give this one a try.

The book starts with Belinda going to prison for accidently kidding her husband. Once she is out, she gets a job taking care of older lady Mabel in a care home. Belinda is there to discover something Mabel is hiding. They start sharing stories about their pasts in hopes Belinda can find out what she needs to. I just did not find this book interesting at all. Tried to skim parts but nothing grabbed my attention.

Jane Corry never fails to write a gripping psychological read and The Stranger in Room Six definitely hit the mark. A really great page turner. Everyone has their secrets and the stranger in room six appears to be pulling the strings.
Sunnyside Home for the Young At Heart now a care home but has been several different businesses throughout the years.
This book is again a great piece of fiction and has everything, murder, romance, friendship and so much more.
I cannot recommend Jane Corry enough, her characters are always believable and captivating.

I have read a few of this authors books but I have to say this is not one of her better ones. The characters were bland and I didn’t really feel them and the storyline was a little rough round the edges and didn’t flow as well as I would have liked. An ok read though.

Mabel, a lady in her late nineties, residing in a retirement home that she is the owner of, and Belinda, a newly appointed carer in said home, strike up an unusual friendship. Both women have their secrets and mysterious past, but bit by bit they unfold their stories to each other, with the promises that neither will tell the other’s history.

Told over three timelines, during WW2, fifteen years before present day, and present day, the plot revels how both women came to be as they are now.

I have read this author previously and found her books to be somewhat of a mixed bag. However, the premise of this storyline was interesting and well worth a shot, or so I thought. Too many inconsistencies (e.g. is Mabel 15 years old or not? Being told to go and play and treated like a 10 year old seems an unlikely comment even in the 1940’s), and there are some unfortunate history errors when all information is well documented.

Choppy, rough chapters, with one dimensional characters and poor execution of plot left me cold.

With apologies to the author, but not one of her best.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin General UK.

I enjoyed this interesting historical drama as it's full of surprises. I found the author's note at the end particularly poignant and added to my enjoyment of the story.

Belinda has been married to boring Gerald for twenty-five years and has two grown daughters, but is still languishing after her university sweetheart, Imran. An anonymous phone call precipitates a turn of events which results in Belinda being charged with a serious crime. I found all of this a bit unlikely and not particularly engaging, but things picked up for me when we started following another plot strand about Mabel's story during the war, which was much more interesting.

It was pretty obvious early on what mean Aunt Clarissa and the Colonel were up to, but interesting to read about.

In a further, present-day thread, we see now-elderly Mabel living in a care home with the ridiculous name of Sunnyside Home for the Young at Heart. (It's desperate for staff, which is realistic, though I'm not therefore sure how a certain carer has quite so much time to spend with one particular resident.) Something's clearly going on there, with Mabel as its target, but it takes time to find out what. (There's one of those "mysterious sections in italics from unknown POV" narrative devices.)

Some things don't ring true. Belinda is told by the police that she, or someone, will have to pay a six-figure sum for her to be allowed bail. While we're all familiar with this concept from US crime dramas, it doesn't generally happen in the UK - bail conditions aren't normally financial. Anyway, this does mean that we get to see Belinda experiencing prison life.

I enjoyed it, especially Mabel's story, but there's something rather prosaic about the writing style, with short, blunt sentences, which doesn't quite engage me. I'm not saying I want it to be overly flowery, but there must be a balance to be found somewhere.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review!

I have read a couple of books by this author and I was looking forward to this novel. The story is told with alternating chapters. The protagonists, Mabel Marchmount in the 1940’s during the Blitz and Belinda, a carer, in the present at Sunnyside Home for the Young at Heart, where Mabel is a resident. Each has a story to tell and they both hide dark secrets. Belinda was sent to prison for the murder of her husband, Gerald. Mabel, aged 13, suffered loss of family members during the Blitz and was sent to Devon to live with her Aunt Clarissa who has her own deep secrets. The characters were a little bland. The writing and chapter style was not for me and the plot, at times, was jagged and did not flow. There are twists and turns in every chapter.

THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN.